A Doctor Who fanfic: Scilla Bloom

CHAPTER 7. Wait what?

I pick the sonic thing up and slip it in my pocket.
After an off key 'happy birthday' for my gran and a teary goodbye on her part, we finally get home and I'm able to sneak it upstairs and examine it.
It's definitely sonic but - that can't be right - it's a screwdriver.
Who makes a screwdriver sonic?
Some kind of madman, that's for sure.

-

"Ariadne, can I talk to you?" I grab Ari and pull her over to a corner.
"Yeah sure," she says noticing the seriousness in my face,"what is it?"
"Well you know how I went to my grandmother's this weekend?"
She nods.
"Something happened at my grandmother's a few weeks back; it's alien and I found something sonic. It's a screwdriver but whatever - and it's Time Lord technology." I wait expectantly.
"Wait what?"
"Time Lord technology Ari! Time Lord technology on earth!" After many questions and confusing answers, she finally gets the gist of it and gets excited for me.

-

When I get home, I sprint upstairs and set up my workshop - complete with tea and a cheese toastie. It takes a while but a blue light flickers on and off and the lamp on my desk flares up and the bulb shatters. That means it must be working. I solder two more wires back together and the blue light flickers again and stabilises. A sudden burst of energy, but it seems to be dying. I march over to the computer and pull out a drawer. Inside is a tangle of intertwined wires. Why don't I ever sort them out?! After much searching ('This one? No, no.. Ah this one! Nope. This one?!"), I finally find the right one and put the sonic to charge.

-

I sometimes feel guilty for inflicting my presence upon my parents. How will I ever be able to leave them? I won't grow and change but they will. My father will have glasses perched on his nose to help with his eyes one day and his hair will become white. My mother will get wrinkles around her eyes and lines around her mouth. Her hair will also become white and who knows? Maybe she'll have false teeth that stay in glass at night. My brother might get married and have children. But I won't be part of their lives. I am doomed to a lonely life as an alien to this world. Maybe I could get in touch with organisations like U.N.I.T. or Torchwood. But I'll always be on the move, never staying long. The friends I have now will grow old without me and one day my face will not even be the same to them.

I don't even remember Gallifrey well. I was so young when I left. Even just talking to another Timelord would change everything. I miss my planet with every breath I take but I will never be able to go back.

-

I go to sleep that night tossing and turning, unable to stop the thoughts running through my head. My hearts hurt for Gallifrey and I wake up with a start. I lie there a moment, my hearts in my head, listening to the air go in and out of my lungs.

Almost unconsciously, I raise my hands to my face, a galaxy already forming. I close my eyes and I'm there. And there's air, I somehow manage to take it with me and stop the pressure from crushing me. I come here often, when I can't sleep or I have enough time and I'm feeling sad.

I stretch out like a cat and yawn, watching everything about me. I close my eyes and just float there, oblivious.

Without warning, a sound cuts through the silence. It's strange and gets louder and then quieter and goes round and round.  I open my eyes and scream.